Additive packaging through smart wrapping of packages and customizations in an on-demand environment

ABSTRACT

Techniques and structures to provide smart packaging in a database environment. A package and a set of customizations corresponding to the package are detected. The package with the set of customizations are bundled to form an additive package such that the additive package provides for the set of customizations to remain bonded with the package throughout one or more processes including testing, deploying, and/or updating of the package.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/421,352, entitled “ADDITIVE PACKAGING THROUGH SMART WRAPPING OFPACKAGES AND CUSTOMIZATIONS IN AN ON-DEMAND ENVIRONMENT,” filed Jan. 31,2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,489,139 with an issue date of Nov. 26, 2019,the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

TECHNICAL FIELD

One or more implementations relate generally to data management and,more specifically, to facilitating additive packaging through smartwrapping of packages and customizations in an on-demand servicesenvironment.

BACKGROUND

Any groups of metadata or components making up an application or afunctionality represent a package that is capable of being distributed,installed, customized, and/or upgraded, etc. It is well known thatpackages are often developed and installed by experts (such as softwaredevelopers, etc.) and then customized by the same or other experts evennon-expert end-users representing one or more organizations innon-production environments. Such packages and customizations are thenmoved between various organizations; however, conventional techniquesare severely limited in that no connection between a package and itscorresponding customization can be developed and thus the two, such asthe package and the customization, do not move together, nor can they beupgraded together as the package goes through certain changes.

The subject matter discussed in the background section should not beassumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in thebackground section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the backgroundsection or associated with the subject matter of the background sectionshould not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the priorart. The subject matter in the background section merely representsdifferent approaches.

In conventional database systems, users access their data resources inone logical database. A user of such a conventional system typicallyretrieves data from and stores data on the system using the user's ownsystems. A user system might remotely access one of a plurality ofserver systems that might in turn access the database system. Dataretrieval from the system might include the issuance of a query from theuser system to the database system. The database system might processthe request for information received in the query and send to the usersystem information relevant to the request. The secure and efficientretrieval of accurate information and subsequent delivery of thisinformation to the user system has been and continues to be a goal ofadministrators of database systems. Unfortunately, conventional databaseapproaches are associated with various limitations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following drawings like reference numbers are used to refer tolike elements. Although the following figures depict various examples,one or more implementations are not limited to the examples depicted inthe figures.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system having a computing device employing a smartadditive packaging mechanism according to one embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates a smart additive packaging mechanism according to oneembodiment;

FIG. 3 illustrates a transaction sequence for facilitating generationand processing of additive packages according to one embodiment;

FIG. 4 illustrates a method for facilitating generation and processingof additive packages according to one embodiment;

FIG. 5 illustrates a computer system according to one embodiment;

FIG. 6 illustrates an environment wherein an on-demand database servicemight be used according to one embodiment; and

FIG. 7 illustrates elements of environment of FIG. 6 and variouspossible interconnections between these elements according to oneembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth.However, embodiments of the invention may be practiced without thesespecific details. In other instances, well-known structures andtechniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure theunderstanding of this description.

Methods and systems are provided for facilitating additive packagingthrough smart wrapping of packages and customizations in an on-demandservices environment.

Embodiments provide for wrapping of packages with their correspondingcustomizations such that the packages and customizations are smartlyconnected with each other through any number and type of subsequentprocedures, such as deployments, installations, tests, upgrades, and/orthe like. In one embodiment, a prebuilt package is wrapped or bondedwith its corresponding customization to form an additive package (alsoreferred to as “additive bundle”, “morphed bundle”, or simply “bundle”)such that the prebuilt package and customization can move together, suchas between organizations, through testing phases, etc. For example, insome embodiments, the prebuilt package may form the inside core of theadditive package, while the customization forms the outer shell of theadditive package by wrapping around the prebuilt package.

It is contemplated that an additive package is not a new package;rather, it is a tightly bonded bundle of a package and a set ofcustomizations that can be tested together, installed together, etc., inany number and type of environments. In some embodiments, an additivebundle represents morphing of the prebuilt package into this bundle ascustomization is added to it such that even if the package is upgraded,its customizations act as dependencies so that they are not broken awayor disconnected from the upgraded package. As discussed in greaterdetail below, a number of layers of additive packages can be supported.

It is contemplated and to be noted that embodiments are not limited toany particular type or number of packages. A package typically providesfor an efficient manner of distributing software applications, features,etc., in various environments, such as a multi-tiered, multi-tenant,on-demand services environment. A package may be regarded as a box or acontainer that is capable of having any number and type of softwareapplications, data, metadata, components, code, etc., and being as smallas a single component or as large as a group of applications. Packagesmay be managed or unmanaged, where an unmanaged package is typicallyused for a one-time distribution to one or more tenants, while a managedpackage is used for building an application that is likely to beupgraded in future after it is deployed.

It is contemplated that embodiments and their implementations are notmerely limited to multi-tenant database system (“MTDBS”) and can be usedin other environment, such as a client-server system, a mobile device, apersonal computer (“PC”), a web services environment, etc. However, forthe sake of brevity and clarity, throughout this document, embodimentsare described with respect to a multi-tenant database system, such asSalesforce.com®, which is to be regarded as an example of an on-demandservices environment. Other on-demand services environments includeSalesforce® Exact Target Marketing Cloud™.

As used herein, a term multi-tenant database system refers to thosesystems in which various elements of hardware and software of thedatabase system may be shared by one or more customers. For example, agiven application server may simultaneously process requests for a greatnumber of customers, and a given database table may store rows for apotentially much greater number of customers. As used herein, the termquery plan refers to a set of steps used to access information in adatabase system.

Embodiments are described with reference to an embodiment in whichtechniques for facilitating management of data in an on-demand servicesenvironment are implemented in a system having an application serverproviding a front end for an on-demand database service capable ofsupporting multiple tenants, embodiments are not limited to multi-tenantdatabases nor deployment on application servers. Embodiments may bepracticed using other database architectures, i.e., ORACLE®, DB2® by IBMand the like without departing from the scope of the embodimentsclaimed.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 having a computing device 120 employinga smart additive packaging mechanism (“packaging mechanism”) 110according to one embodiment. In one embodiment, computing device 120includes a host server computer serving a host machine for employingpackaging mechanism 110 for facilitating bundling of and providingconnection between packages and customizations in a multi-tiered,multi-tenant, on-demand services environment.

It is to be noted that terms like “queue message”, “job”, “query”,“request” or simply “message” may be referenced interchangeably andsimilarly, terms like “job types”, “message types”, “query type”, and“request type” may be referenced interchangeably throughout thisdocument. It is to be further noted that messages may be associated withone or more message types, which may relate to or be associated with oneor more customer organizations, such as customer organizations121A-121N, where, as aforementioned, throughout this document, “customerorganizations” may be referred to as “tenants”, “customers”, or simply“organizations”. An organization, for example, may include or refer to(without limitation) a business (e.g., small business, big business,etc.), a company, a corporation, a non-profit entity, an institution(e.g., educational institution), an agency (e.g., government agency),etc.), etc., serving as a customer or client of host organization 101(also referred to as “service provider” or simply “host”), such asSalesforce.com®, serving as a host of data packaging mechanism 110.

Similarly, the term “user” may refer to a system user, such as (withoutlimitation) a software/application developer, a system administrator, adatabase administrator, an information technology professional, aprogram manager, product manager, etc. The term “user” may further referto an end-user, such as (without limitation) one or more of customerorganizations 121A-N and/or their representatives (e.g., individuals orgroups working on behalf of one or more of customer organizations121A-N), such as a salesperson, a sales manager, a product manager, anaccountant, a director, an owner, a president, a system administrator, acomputer programmer, an information technology (“IT”) representative,etc.

Computing device 120 may include (without limitation) server computers(e.g., cloud server computers, etc.), desktop computers, cluster-basedcomputers, set-top boxes (e.g., Internet-based cable television set-topboxes, etc.), etc. Computing device 120 includes an operating system(“OS”) 106 serving as an interface between one or more hardware/physicalresources of computing device 120 and one or more client devices130A-130N, etc. Computing device 120 further includes processor(s) 102,memory 104, input/output (“I/O”) sources 108, such as touchscreens,touch panels, touch pads, virtual or regular keyboards, virtual orregular mice, etc.

In one embodiment, host organization 101 may further employ a productionenvironment that is communicably interfaced with client devices 130A-Nthrough host organization 101. Client devices 130A-N may include(without limitation) customer organization-based server computers,desktop computers, laptop computers, mobile computing devices, such assmartphones, tablet computers, personal digital assistants, e-readers,media Internet devices, smart televisions, television platforms,wearable devices (e.g., glasses, watches, bracelets, smartcards,jewelry, clothing items, etc.), media players, global positioningsystem-based navigation systems, cable setup boxes, etc.

In one embodiment, the illustrated multi-tenant database system 150includes database(s) 140 to store (without limitation) information,relational tables, datasets, and underlying database records havingtenant and user data therein on behalf of customer organizations 121A-N(e.g., tenants of multi-tenant database system 150 or their affiliatedusers). In alternative embodiments, a client-server computingarchitecture may be utilized in place of multi-tenant database system150, or alternatively, a computing grid, or a pool of work servers, orsome combination of hosted computing architectures may be utilized tocarry out the computational workload and processing that is expected ofhost organization 101.

The illustrated multi-tenant database system 150 is shown to include oneor more of underlying hardware, software, and logic elements 145 thatimplement, for example, database functionality and a code executionenvironment within host organization 101. In accordance with oneembodiment, multi-tenant database system 150 further implementsdatabases 140 to service database queries and other data interactionswith the databases 140. In one embodiment, hardware, software, and logicelements 145 of multi-tenant database system 150 and its other elements,such as a distributed file store, a query interface, etc., may beseparate and distinct from customer organizations (121A-121N) whichutilize the services provided by host organization 101 by communicablyinterfacing with host organization 101 via network(s) 135 (e.g., cloudnetwork, the Internet, etc.). In such a way, host organization 101 mayimplement on-demand services, on-demand database services, cloudcomputing services, etc., to subscribing customer organizations121A-121N.

In some embodiments, host organization 101 receives input and otherrequests from a plurality of customer organizations 121A-N over one ormore networks 135; for example, incoming search queries, databasequeries, application programming interface (“API”) requests,interactions with displayed graphical user interfaces and displays atclient devices 130A-N, or other inputs may be received from customerorganizations 121A-N to be processed against multi-tenant databasesystem 150 as queries via a query interface and stored at a distributedfile store, pursuant to which results are then returned to an originatoror requestor, such as a user of client devices 130A-N at any of customerorganizations 121A-N.

As aforementioned, in one embodiment, each customer organization 121A-Nis an entity selected from a group consisting of a separate and distinctremote organization, an organizational group within host organization101, a business partner of host organization 101, a customerorganization 121A-N that subscribes to cloud computing services providedby host organization 101, etc.

In one embodiment, requests are received at, or submitted to, a webserver within host organization 101. Host organization 101 may receive avariety of requests for processing by host organization 101 and itsmulti-tenant database system 150. For example, incoming requestsreceived at the web server may specify which services from hostorganization 101 are to be provided, such as query requests, searchrequest, status requests, database transactions, graphical userinterface requests and interactions, processing requests to retrieve,update, or store data on behalf of one of customer organizations 121A-N,code execution requests, and so forth. Further, the web-server at hostorganization 101 may be responsible for receiving requests from variouscustomer organizations 121A-N via network(s) 135 on behalf of the queryinterface and for providing a web-based interface or other graphicaldisplays to one or more end-user client devices 130A-N or machinesoriginating such data requests.

Further, host organization 101 may implement a request interface via theweb server or as a stand-alone interface to receive requests packets orother requests from the client devices 130A-N. The request interface mayfurther support the return of response packets or other replies andresponses in an outgoing direction from host organization 101 to one ormore client devices 130A-N.

It is to be noted that any references to software codes, data and/ormetadata (e.g., Customer Relationship Model (“CRM”) data and/ormetadata, etc.), tables (e.g., custom object table, unified indextables, description tables, etc.), computing devices (e.g., servercomputers, desktop computers, mobile computers, such as tabletcomputers, smartphones, etc.), software development languages,applications, and/or development tools or kits (e.g., Force.com®,Force.com Apex™ code, JavaScript™, JQuery™, Developerforce™,Visualforce™, Service Cloud Console Integration Toolkit™ (“IntegrationToolkit” or “Toolkit”), Platform on a Service™ (“PaaS”), Chatter®Groups, Sprint Planner®, MS Project®, etc.), domains (e.g., Google®,Facebook®, LinkedIn®, Skype®, etc.), etc., discussed in this documentare merely used as examples for brevity, clarity, and ease ofunderstanding and that embodiments are not limited to any particularnumber or type of data, metadata, tables, computing devices, techniques,programming languages, software applications, software developmenttools/kits, etc.

It is to be noted that terms like “node”, “computing node”, “server”,“server device”, “cloud computer”, “cloud server”, “cloud servercomputer”, “machine”, “host machine”, “device”, “computing device”,“computer”, “computing system”, “multi-tenant on-demand data system”,and the like, may be used interchangeably throughout this document. Itis to be further noted that terms like “code”, “software code”,“application”, “software application”, “program”, “software program”,“package”, “software code”, “code”, and “software package” may be usedinterchangeably throughout this document. Moreover, terms like “job”,“input”, “request”, and “message” may be used interchangeably throughoutthis document.

FIG. 2 illustrates packaging mechanism 110 of FIG. 1 according to oneembodiment. In one embodiment, packaging mechanism 110 may include anynumber and type of components, such as administration engine 201 having(without limitation): request/query logic 203; authentication logic 205;and communication/compatibility logic 207. Similarly, packagingmechanism 110 may further include package bundling/wrapping engine(“wrapping engine”) 211 including (without limitation): detection andanalysis logic 213; bundle generation logic (“generation logic”) 215;bundle management logic (“management logic”) 217; delta packaging logic219; and interface logic 221.

In one embodiment, computing device 120 may serve as a service providercore (e.g., Salesforce.com® core) for hosting and maintaining packagingmechanism 110 and be in communication with one or more database(s) 140,one or more client computers 130A-N, over one or more network(s) 135,and any number and type of dedicated nodes.

Throughout this document, terms like “framework”, “mechanism”, “engine”,“logic”, “component”, “module”, “tool”, and “builder” may be referencedinterchangeably and include, by way of example, software, hardware,and/or any combination of software and hardware, such as firmware.Further, any use of a particular brand, word, or term, such as“package”, “packaging”, “additive package”, “wrapping”, “bundling”,“bonding”, “morphing”, “mapping”, “metadata”, “customization”,“testing”, “updating”, “upgrading”, etc., should not be read to limitembodiments to software or devices that carry that label in products orin literature external to this document.

As aforementioned, with respect to FIG. 1, any number and type ofrequests and/or queries may be received at or submitted to request/querylogic 203 for processing. For example, incoming requests may specifywhich services from computing device 120 are to be provided, such asquery requests, search request, status requests, database transactions,graphical user interface requests and interactions, processing requeststo retrieve, update, or store data, etc., on behalf of one or moreclient devices 130A-N, code execution requests, and so forth.

In one embodiment, computing device 120 may implement request/querylogic 203 to serve as a request/query interface via a web server or as astand-alone interface to receive requests packets or other requests fromthe client devices 130A-N. The request interface may further support thereturn of response packets or other replies and responses in an outgoingdirection from computing device 120 to one or more client devices130A-N.

Similarly, request/query logic 203 may serve as a query interface toprovide additional functionalities to pass queries from, for example, aweb service into the multi-tenant database system for execution againstdatabase(s) 140 and retrieval of customer data and stored recordswithout the involvement of the multi-tenant database system or forprocessing search queries via the multi-tenant database system, as wellas for the retrieval and processing of data maintained by otheravailable data stores of the host organization's production environment.Further, authentication logic 205 may operate on behalf of the hostorganization, via computing device 120, to verify, authenticate, andauthorize, user credentials associated with users attempting to gainaccess to the host organization via one or more client devices 130A-N.

In one embodiment, computing device 120 may include a server computerwhich may be further in communication with one or more databases orstorage repositories, such as database(s) 140, which may be locatedlocally or remotely over one or more networks, such as network(s) 135(e.g., cloud network, Internet, proximity network, intranet, Internet ofThings (“IoT”), Cloud of Things (“CoT”), etc.). Computing device 120 isfurther shown to be in communication with any number and type of othercomputing devices, such as client computing devices 130A-N, over one ormore networks, such as network(s) 135.

In one embodiment, as illustrated, packaging mechanism 110 includespackage bundling/wrapping engine 211 to allow for a novel technique forbundling packages and customizations into additive packages for betterdistribution, testing, and processing in any number and type ofenvironments. For example, a package may have been built and distributedor deployed by experts, such as software developers. Any customizationsrelating to the package may be conceived and proposed by the sameexperts who created built the package or received from other expertsand/or non-expert end-users associated with one or more tenants in amulti-tenant environment.

For example, in one embodiment, a change, such as an additional columnor row of a table as provided by the prebuilt package, may be proposedby a user associated with a tenant using computing device 130A, whichmay then be received by server computing device 120 over network(s) 135as facilitated by communication/compatibility. For example, the requesthaving the proposal may be received through request/query logic 203 andverified or authenticated by authentication logic 205 and then forwardedon to wrapping engine 211 for subsequent processing.

Regardless of how or when a customization is proposed or received, anynumber and type of customizations present at any given time, such as atthe time of building of the package or soon thereafter, may be detectedand analyzed by detection and analysis logic 213. For example, detectionand analysis logic 213 may analyze the package and verify the availablecustomization or a set of customizations corresponding to the package todetermine whether the two may be bundled together.

In one embodiment, if the customization is determined to becorresponding or relevant to a prebuilt package, generation logic 215may then be triggered to facilitate bundling or bonding of the packageand the customization such that the package is wrapped around by thecustomization, forming an additive package. For example, the package mayserve as the inner portion or core of the additive package, while thecustomization may form the outer layer or shell of the additive packageas illustrated with reference to FIG. 3. In some embodiments, additionallayers of additive packages can be wrapped around existing bundles thatinclude the package and one or more additive packages.

As aforementioned, for example, groups of metadata may be formed intopackages, where such packages may be initially installed by softwaredevelopers and then customized, typically, in a non-productionenvironment. The package and the corresponding customization may then bemoved around from one organization to another or put through variousprocesses (e.g., testing, upgrading, etc.).

None of the conventional techniques offer any connection between thepackage and the customization and thus, using conventional techniques,the package and the customization are not capable of moving around orgoing through any of the subsequent processes together, such as when thepackage is changed or upgraded.

Embodiments provide for not only generation of an additive package(where the package is bundled with its corresponding customization asfacilitated by generation logic 215), but also allow for any subsequentmanagement of the additive package as facilitated by management logic217. For example, as facilitated by management logic 217, the bondbetween the package and the customization is maintained throughout allmovements and processes as if the package itself contained thecustomization.

Further, although additive packages are not new packages per se, sincethey represent a combination of prebuilt packages and theircorresponding customizations, each additive package, as facilitated bymanagement logic 217, is fully capable of tightly holding and preservingits bonded bundle as a morphed package as the additive package goesthrough any number and type of subsequent processes, such as testing,installation in other environments, etc. For example, in one embodiment,when a wrapped prebuilt package, representing the core of an additivepackage, is upgraded, its customizations, representing the outer shellof the additive package, continue to be bonded while acting asdependencies so that the bundle is not broken.

As customers/users make or propose changes to a prebuilt package, thesechanges are typically recorded so they may be tracked and deployed;however, using conventional techniques, the only feasible way forcustomers to move these changes is to generate a change set representinga list of proposed changes so that any package items (e.g., components,metadata, columns, rows, etc.) associated with such changes are held inthis is change set to be applied or deployed later in the same or someother environment. This technique is not only cumbersome andinefficient, but also prone to errors as there is no way to test theproposed changes prior to moving them to production.

In one embodiment, delta packaging logic 219 facilitates a noveltechnique for automatically generating a change package and recordingany proposed changes in the change package (as opposed a change set) sothat the change package can then be treated as any other package (suchas the aforementioned prebuilt package) that is subject to normalpackage movements and processes, including testing and troubleshooting.For example, as facilitated by delta packaging logic 219, any proposedchanges held in the change package may be run through a server computingdevice, such as computing device 120, serving as a continuousintegration server to ensure that the proposed changes are legitimateand deployable and not capable of harming or breaking anything, such asany relevant additive packages. Once the run is successfully completed,as ensured and facilitated by delta packaging logic 219, the changepackage may then be deployed as any other package (such as a prebuiltpackage) with full tracking. A failed run may lead to re-verifying ofthe proposed changes or discarding of the change package.

In one embodiment, interface logic 221 may be used to offer access topackages and customizations to users, such as software developers,end-users, etc., though one or more interfaces at one or more computingdevices 120, 130A-N using one or more of their display devices/screensas further facilitated by communication/compatibility logic 207. It iscontemplated that the one or more interfaces are not limited to anyparticular number or type of interfaces such that an interface mayinclude (without limitations) any one or more of a user interface (e.g.,Web browser, Graphical User Interface (GUI), software application-basedinterface, etc.), an application programming interface (API), aRepresentational State Transfer (REST) or RESTful API, and/or the like.

It is contemplated that a tenant may include an organization of any sizeor type, such as a business, a company, a corporation, a governmentagency, a philanthropic or non-profit entity, an educationalinstitution, etc., having single or multiple departments (e.g.,accounting, marketing, legal, etc.), single or multiple layers ofauthority (e.g., C-level positions, directors, managers, receptionists,etc.), single or multiple types of businesses or sub-organizations(e.g., sodas, snacks, restaurants, sponsorships, charitable foundation,services, skills, time etc.) and/or the like.

Communication/compatibility logic 207 may facilitate the ability todynamically communicate and stay configured with any number and type ofsoftware/application developing tools, models, data processing servers,database platforms and architectures, programming languages and theircorresponding platforms, etc., while ensuring compatibility withchanging technologies, parameters, protocols, standards, etc.

It is contemplated that any number and type of components may be addedto and/or removed from packaging mechanism 110 to facilitate variousembodiments including adding, removing, and/or enhancing certainfeatures. It is contemplated that embodiments are not limited to anyparticular technology, topology, system, architecture, and/or standardand are dynamic enough to adopt and adapt to any future changes.

FIG. 3 illustrates a transaction sequence 300 for facilitatinggeneration and processing of additive packages 305A, 305B according toone embodiment. The example of FIG. 3 illustrates only a single additivepackage layer wrapped around a package; however, as discussed above, anynumber of additive package layers can be supported. Transaction sequence300 may be performed by processing logic that may comprise hardware(e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, etc.), software(such as instructions run on a processing device), or a combinationthereof. In one embodiment, transaction sequence 300 may be performed orfacilitated by one or more components of packaging mechanism 110 ofFIGS. 1-2. The processes of transaction sequence 300 are illustrated inlinear sequences for brevity and clarity in presentation; however, it iscontemplated that any number of them can be performed in parallel,asynchronously, or in different orders. Further, for brevity, clarity,and ease of understanding, many of the components and processesdescribed with respect to FIGS. 1-2 may not be repeated or discussedhereafter.

In this somewhat simplistic illustration, packages 301A, 301B (e.g.,metadata, applications, components, code, templates, etc.) are generatedby software developers for distribution and deployment at one or morecomputing devices, such as client computers 130A-130N of FIGS. 1-2,associated with or accessible to one or more users of one or moretenants. In one embodiment, using detection and analysis logic 213 ofFIG. 2, these prebuilt packages 301A, 301B are detected and similarly,any corresponding customizations 303A, 303B (e.g., changes ormodifications) proposed for or associated with these packages 301A, 301Bare also detected and analyzed for possible bonding or bundling.

In one embodiment, if suitable for bonding, customizations 303A, 303Bare then bundled with prebuilt packages 301A, 301B, respectively, usinggeneration logic 215 of FIG. 2, where, in one embodiment, this bundlingallows for packages 301A, 301B to be wrapped with their respectivecustomizations 303A, 303B, forming additive packages 305A, 305B. Asillustrated, in one embodiment, the wrapping or bundling is such thatpackages 301A, 301B form the (inner) cores of additive packages 305A,305B, while their corresponding customizations 303A, 303B form the(outer) shells of additive packages 305A, 305B.

As previously discussed with respect to FIG. 2, additive packages 305A,305B provide for a lasting connection or bonding between prebuiltpackages 301A, 301B and customizations 303A, 303B, respectively, toallow for additive packages 305A, 305B to go through various processes307 (such as tests, modifications, installations, deployments, etc.)without having to separate prebuilt packages 301A, 301B from theirrespective customizations 303A, 303B as facilitated by management logic217 of FIG. 2. For example, even if one or more of packages 301A, 301Bare changed, their respective one or more customizations 303A, 303Bremain bonded as dependencies.

FIG. 4 illustrates a transaction sequence 400 for facilitatinggeneration and processing of additive packages according to oneembodiment. Method 400 may be performed by processing logic that maycomprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic,etc.), software (such as instructions run on a processing device), or acombination thereof. In one embodiment, method 400 may be performed orfacilitated by one or more components of packaging mechanism 110 ofFIGS. 1-2. The processes of method 400 are illustrated in linearsequences for brevity and clarity in presentation; however, it iscontemplated that any number of them can be performed in parallel,asynchronously, or in different orders. Further, for brevity, clarity,and ease of understanding, many of the components and processesdescribed with respect to FIGS. 1-2 may not be repeated or discussedhereafter.

Method 400 begins at block 401 with detection of a prebuilt package. Itis contemplated that the prebuilt package may have been generated in aproduction environment by one or more software developers associatedwith a service provider so that the package may be offered to one ormore service receivers, such as one or more tenants, by installing ordeploying the package at one or more computing devices associated withthe one or more tenants.

At block 403, customizations relating to the prebuilt package may bedetected and analyzed for possible bundling with the prebuilt packages.It is contemplated that such customizations may include changes ormodifications (to the prebuilt package) proposed in production ornon-production environments by any number and type of users, including(but not limited to) the same or other software developers, non-expertusers, etc.

At block 405, the prebuilt package and the customization are bundledtogether to form an additive package such that the prebuilt packageforms the core of the additive package, while the customizations formthe shell of the additive package. At block 407, the additive packageform a lasting bond between the prebuilt package and its correspondingcustomizations such that the prebuilt package and the customizations arecapable of moving together, such as from tenant to another tenant, onecomputing device to another computing device, etc., and going throughany number and type of processes together, such as testing, modifying,deploying, installing, etc., without breaking the bond.

FIG. 5 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a machine 500 in theexemplary form of a computer system, in accordance with one embodiment,within which a set of instructions, for causing the machine 500 toperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, may beexecuted. Machine 500 is the same as or similar to computing devices120, 130A-N of FIG. 1. In alternative embodiments, the machine may beconnected (e.g., networked) to other machines in a network (such as hostmachine 120 connected with client machines 130A-N over network(s) 135 ofFIG. 1), such as a cloud-based network, Internet of Things (IoT) orCloud of Things (CoT), a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network(WAN), a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), a Personal Area Network (PAN),an intranet, an extranet, or the Internet. The machine may operate inthe capacity of a server or a client machine in a client-server networkenvironment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed)network environment or as a server or series of servers within anon-demand service environment, including an on-demand environmentproviding multi-tenant database storage services. Certain embodiments ofthe machine may be in the form of a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC,a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellulartelephone, a web appliance, a server, a network router, switch orbridge, computing system, or any machine capable of executing a set ofinstructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be takenby that machine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated,the term “machine” shall also be taken to include any collection ofmachines (e.g., computers) that individually or jointly execute a set(or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein.

The exemplary computer system 500 includes a processor 502, a mainmemory 504 (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, dynamic randomaccess memory (DRAM) such as synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) or Rambus DRAM(RDRAM), etc., static memory such as flash memory, static random accessmemory (SRAM), volatile but high-data rate RAM, etc.), and a secondarymemory 518 (e.g., a persistent storage device including hard disk drivesand persistent multi-tenant data base implementations), whichcommunicate with each other via a bus 530. Main memory 504 includesemitted execution data 524 (e.g., data emitted by a logging framework)and one or more trace preferences 523 which operate in conjunction withprocessing logic 526 and processor 502 to perform the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

Processor 502 represents one or more general-purpose processing devicessuch as a microprocessor, central processing unit, or the like. Moreparticularly, the processor 502 may be a complex instruction setcomputing (CISC) microprocessor, reduced instruction set computing(RISC) microprocessor, very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor,processor implementing other instruction sets, or processorsimplementing a combination of instruction sets. Processor 502 may alsobe one or more special-purpose processing devices such as an applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array(FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), network processor, or thelike. Processor 502 is configured to execute the processing logic 526for performing the operations and functionality of packaging mechanism110 as described with reference to FIG. 1 and other Figures discussedherein.

The computer system 500 may further include a network interface card508. The computer system 500 also may include a user interface 510 (suchas a video display unit, a liquid crystal display (LCD), or a cathoderay tube (CRT)), an alphanumeric input device 512 (e.g., a keyboard), acursor control device 514 (e.g., a mouse), and a signal generationdevice 516 (e.g., an integrated speaker). The computer system 500 mayfurther include peripheral device 536 (e.g., wireless or wiredcommunication devices, memory devices, storage devices, audio processingdevices, video processing devices, etc. The computer system 500 mayfurther include a Hardware based API logging framework 534 capable ofexecuting incoming requests for services and emitting execution dataresponsive to the fulfillment of such incoming requests.

The secondary memory 518 may include a machine-readable storage medium(or more specifically a machine-accessible storage medium) 531 on whichis stored one or more sets of instructions (e.g., software 522)embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions of packagingmechanism 110 as described with reference to FIG. 1, respectively, andother figures discussed herein. The software 522 may also reside,completely or at least partially, within the main memory 504 and/orwithin the processor 502 during execution thereof by the computer system500, the main memory 504 and the processor 502 also constitutingmachine-readable storage media. The software 522 may further betransmitted or received over a network 520 via the network interfacecard 508. The machine-readable storage medium 531 may include transitoryor non-transitory machine-readable storage media.

Portions of various embodiments may be provided as a computer programproduct, which may include a computer-readable medium having storedthereon computer program instructions, which may be used to program acomputer (or other electronic devices) to perform a process according tothe embodiments. The machine-readable medium may include, but is notlimited to, floppy diskettes, optical disks, compact disk read-onlymemory (CD-ROM), and magneto-optical disks, ROM, RAM, erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically EPROM (EEPROM),magnet or optical cards, flash memory, or other type ofmedia/machine-readable medium suitable for storing electronicinstructions.

The techniques shown in the figures can be implemented using code anddata stored and executed on one or more electronic devices (e.g., an endstation, a network element). Such electronic devices store andcommunicate (internally and/or with other electronic devices over anetwork) code and data using computer-readable media, such asnon-transitory computer-readable storage media (e.g., magnetic disks;optical disks; random access memory; read only memory; flash memorydevices; phase-change memory) and transitory computer-readabletransmission media (e.g., electrical, optical, acoustical or other formof propagated signals—such as carrier waves, infrared signals, digitalsignals). In addition, such electronic devices typically include a setof one or more processors coupled to one or more other components, suchas one or more storage devices (non-transitory machine-readable storagemedia), user input/output devices (e.g., a keyboard, a touchscreen,and/or a display), and network connections. The coupling of the set ofprocessors and other components is typically through one or more bussesand bridges (also termed as bus controllers). Thus, the storage deviceof a given electronic device typically stores code and/or data forexecution on the set of one or more processors of that electronicdevice. Of course, one or more parts of an embodiment may be implementedusing different combinations of software, firmware, and/or hardware.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an environment 610 wherein anon-demand database service might be used. Environment 610 may includeuser systems 612, network 614, system 616, processor system 617,application platform 618, network interface 620, tenant data storage622, system data storage 624, program code 626, and process space 628.In other embodiments, environment 610 may not have all of the componentslisted and/or may have other elements instead of, or in addition to,those listed above.

Environment 610 is an environment in which an on-demand database serviceexists. User system 612 may be any machine or system that is used by auser to access a database user system. For example, any of user systems612 can be a handheld computing device, a mobile phone, a laptopcomputer, a workstation, and/or a network of computing devices. Asillustrated in herein FIG. 6 (and in more detail in FIG. 7) user systems612 might interact via a network 614 with an on-demand database service,which is system 616.

An on-demand database service, such as system 616, is a database systemthat is made available to outside users that do not need to necessarilybe concerned with building and/or maintaining the database system, butinstead may be available for their use when the users need the databasesystem (e.g., on the demand of the users). Some on-demand databaseservices may store information from one or more tenants stored intotables of a common database image to form a multi-tenant database system(MTS). Accordingly, “on-demand database service 616” and “system 616”will be used interchangeably herein. A database image may include one ormore database objects. A relational database management system (RDMS) orthe equivalent may execute storage and retrieval of information againstthe database object(s). Application platform 618 may be a framework thatallows the applications of system 616 to run, such as the hardwareand/or software, e.g., the operating system. In an embodiment, on-demanddatabase service 616 may include an application platform 618 thatenables creation, managing and executing one or more applicationsdeveloped by the provider of the on-demand database service, usersaccessing the on-demand database service via user systems 612, or thirdparty application developers accessing the on-demand database servicevia user systems 612.

The users of user systems 612 may differ in their respective capacities,and the capacity of a particular user system 612 might be entirelydetermined by permissions (permission levels) for the current user. Forexample, where a salesperson is using a particular user system 612 tointeract with system 616, that user system has the capacities allottedto that salesperson. However, while an administrator is using that usersystem to interact with system 616, that user system has the capacitiesallotted to that administrator. In systems with a hierarchical rolemodel, users at one permission level may have access to applications,data, and database information accessible by a lower permission leveluser, but may not have access to certain applications, databaseinformation, and data accessible by a user at a higher permission level.Thus, different users will have different capabilities with regard toaccessing and modifying application and database information, dependingon a user's security or permission level.

Network 614 is any network or combination of networks of devices thatcommunicate with one another. For example, network 614 can be any one orany combination of a LAN (local area network), WAN (wide area network),telephone network, wireless network, point-to-point network, starnetwork, token ring network, hub network, or other appropriateconfiguration. As the most common type of computer network in currentuse is a TCP/IP (Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol)network, such as the global internetwork of networks often referred toas the “Internet” with a capital “I,” that network will be used in manyof the examples herein. However, it should be understood that thenetworks that one or more implementations might use are not so limited,although TCP/IP is a frequently implemented protocol.

User systems 612 might communicate with system 616 using TCP/IP and, ata higher network level, use other common Internet protocols tocommunicate, such as HTTP, FTP, AFS, WAP, etc. In an example where HTTPis used, user system 612 might include an HTTP client commonly referredto as a “browser” for sending and receiving HTTP messages to and from anHTTP server at system 616. Such an HTTP server might be implemented asthe sole network interface between system 616 and network 614, but othertechniques might be used as well or instead. In some implementations,the interface between system 616 and network 614 includes load-sharingfunctionality, such as round-robin HTTP request distributors to balanceloads and distribute incoming HTTP requests evenly over a plurality ofservers. At least as for the users that are accessing that server, eachof the plurality of servers has access to the MTS' data; however, otheralternative configurations may be used instead.

In one embodiment, system 616, shown in FIG. 6, implements a web-basedcustomer relationship management (CRM) system. For example, in oneembodiment, system 616 includes application servers configured toimplement and execute CRM software applications as well as providerelated data, code, forms, webpages and other information to and fromuser systems 612 and to store to, and retrieve from, a database systemrelated data, objects, and Webpage content. With a multi-tenant system,data for multiple tenants may be stored in the same physical databaseobject, however, tenant data typically is arranged so that data of onetenant is kept logically separate from that of other tenants so that onetenant does not have access to another tenant's data, unless such datais expressly shared. In certain embodiments, system 616 implementsapplications other than, or in addition to, a CRM application. Forexample, system 616 may provide tenant access to multiple hosted(standard and custom) applications, including a CRM application. User(or third party developer) applications, which may or may not includeCRM, may be supported by the application platform 618, which managescreation, storage of the applications into one or more database objectsand executing of the applications in a virtual machine in the processspace of the system 616.

One arrangement for elements of system 616 is shown in FIG. 6, includinga network interface 620, application platform 618, tenant data storage622 for tenant data 623, system data storage 624 for system data 625accessible to system 616 and possibly multiple tenants, program code 626for implementing various functions of system 616, and a process space628 for executing MTS system processes and tenant-specific processes,such as running applications as part of an application hosting service.Additional processes that may execute on system 616 includedatabase-indexing processes.

Several elements in the system shown in FIG. 6 include conventional,well-known elements that are explained only briefly here. For example,each user system 612 could include a desktop personal computer,workstation, laptop, PDA, cell phone, or any wireless access protocol(WAP) enabled device or any other computing device capable ofinterfacing directly or indirectly to the Internet or other networkconnection. User system 612 typically runs an HTTP client, e.g., abrowsing program, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser,Netscape's Navigator browser, Opera's browser, or a WAP-enabled browserin the case of a cell phone, PDA or other wireless device, or the like,allowing a user (e.g., subscriber of the multi-tenant database system)of user system 612 to access, process and view information, pages andapplications available to it from system 616 over network 614. Usersystem 612 further includes Mobile OS (e.g., iOS® by Apple®, Android®,WebOS® by Palm®, etc.). Each user system 612 also typically includes oneor more user interface devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, trackball,touch pad, touch screen, pen or the like, for interacting with agraphical user interface (GUI) provided by the browser on a display(e.g., a monitor screen, LCD display, etc.) in conjunction with pages,forms, applications and other information provided by system 616 orother systems or servers. For example, the user interface device can beused to access data and applications hosted by system 616, and toperform searches on stored data, and otherwise allow a user to interactwith various GUI pages that may be presented to a user. As discussedabove, embodiments are suitable for use with the Internet, which refersto a specific global internetwork of networks. However, it should beunderstood that other networks can be used instead of the Internet, suchas an intranet, an extranet, a virtual private network (VPN), anon-TCP/IP based network, any LAN or WAN or the like.

According to one embodiment, each user system 612 and all of itscomponents are operator configurable using applications, such as abrowser, including computer code run using a central processing unitsuch as an Intel Core® processor or the like. Similarly, system 616 (andadditional instances of an MTS, where more than one is present) and allof their components might be operator configurable using application(s)including computer code to run using a central processing unit such asprocessor system 617, which may include an Intel Pentium® processor orthe like, and/or multiple processor units. A computer program productembodiment includes a machine-readable storage medium (media) havinginstructions stored thereon/in which can be used to program a computerto perform any of the processes of the embodiments described herein.Computer code for operating and configuring system 616 tointercommunicate and to process webpages, applications and other dataand media content as described herein are preferably downloaded andstored on a hard disk, but the entire program code, or portions thereof,may also be stored in any other volatile or non-volatile memory mediumor device as is well known, such as a ROM or RAM, or provided on anymedia capable of storing program code, such as any type of rotatingmedia including floppy disks, optical discs, digital versatile disk(DVD), compact disk (CD), microdrive, and magneto-optical disks, andmagnetic or optical cards, nanosystems (including molecular memory ICs),or any type of media or device suitable for storing instructions and/ordata. Additionally, the entire program code, or portions thereof, may betransmitted and downloaded from a software source over a transmissionmedium, e.g., over the Internet, or from another server, as is wellknown, or transmitted over any other conventional network connection asis well known (e.g., extranet, VPN, LAN, etc.) using any communicationmedium and protocols (e.g., TCP/IP, HTTP, HTTPS, Ethernet, etc.) as arewell known. It will also be appreciated that computer code forimplementing embodiments can be implemented in any programming languagethat can be executed on a client system and/or server or server systemsuch as, for example, C, C++, HTML, any other markup language, Java™JavaScript, ActiveX, any other scripting language, such as VBScript, andmany other programming languages as are well known may be used. (Java™is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.).

According to one embodiment, each system 616 is configured to providewebpages, forms, applications, data and media content to user (client)systems 612 to support the access by user systems 612 as tenants ofsystem 616. As such, system 616 provides security mechanisms to keepeach tenant's data separate unless the data is shared. If more than oneMTS is used, they may be located in close proximity to one another(e.g., in a server farm located in a single building or campus), or theymay be distributed at locations remote from one another (e.g., one ormore servers located in city A and one or more servers located in cityB). As used herein, each MTS could include one or more logically and/orphysically connected servers distributed locally or across one or moregeographic locations. Additionally, the term “server” is meant toinclude a computer system, including processing hardware and processspace(s), and an associated storage system and database application(e.g., OODBMS or RDBMS) as is well known in the art. It should also beunderstood that “server system” and “server” are often usedinterchangeably herein. Similarly, the database object described hereincan be implemented as single databases, a distributed database, acollection of distributed databases, a database with redundant online oroffline backups or other redundancies, etc., and might include adistributed database or storage network and associated processingintelligence.

FIG. 7 also illustrates environment 610. However, in FIG. 7 elements ofsystem 616 and various interconnections in an embodiment are furtherillustrated. FIG. 7 shows that user system 612 may include processorsystem 612A, memory system 612B, input system 612C, and output system612D. FIG. 7 shows network 614 and system 616. FIG. 7 also shows thatsystem 616 may include tenant data storage 622, tenant data 623, systemdata storage 624, system data 625, User Interface (UI) 730, ApplicationProgram Interface (API) 732, PL/SOQL 734, save routines 736, applicationsetup mechanism 738, applications servers 700 ₁-700 _(N), system processspace 702, tenant process spaces 704, tenant management process space710, tenant storage area 712, user storage 714, and application metadata716. In other embodiments, environment 610 may not have the sameelements as those listed above and/or may have other elements insteadof, or in addition to, those listed above.

User system 612, network 614, system 616, tenant data storage 622, andsystem data storage 624 were discussed above in FIG. 6. Regarding usersystem 612, processor system 612A may be any combination of one or moreprocessors. Memory system 612B may be any combination of one or morememory devices, short term, and/or long term memory. Input system 612Cmay be any combination of input devices, such as one or more keyboards,mice, trackballs, scanners, cameras, and/or interfaces to networks.Output system 612D may be any combination of output devices, such as oneor more monitors, printers, and/or interfaces to networks. As shown byFIG. 7, system 616 may include a network interface 620 (of FIG. 6)implemented as a set of HTTP application servers 700, an applicationplatform 618, tenant data storage 622, and system data storage 624. Alsoshown is system process space 702, including individual tenant processspaces 704 and a tenant management process space 710. Each applicationserver 700 may be configured to tenant data storage 622 and the tenantdata 623 therein, and system data storage 624 and the system data 625therein to serve requests of user systems 612. The tenant data 623 mightbe divided into individual tenant storage areas 712, which can be eithera physical arrangement and/or a logical arrangement of data. Within eachtenant storage area 712, user storage 714 and application metadata 716might be similarly allocated for each user. For example, a copy of auser's most recently used (MRU) items might be stored to user storage714. Similarly, a copy of MRU items for an entire organization that is atenant might be stored to tenant storage area 712. A UI 730 provides auser interface and an API 732 provides an application programmerinterface to system 616 resident processes to users and/or developers atuser systems 612. The tenant data and the system data may be stored invarious databases, such as one or more Oracle™ databases.

Application platform 618 includes an application setup mechanism 738that supports application developers' creation and management ofapplications, which may be saved as metadata into tenant data storage622 by save routines 736 for execution by subscribers as one or moretenant process spaces 704 managed by tenant management process 710 forexample. Invocations to such applications may be coded using PL/SOQL 734that provides a programming language style interface extension to API732. A detailed description of some PL/SOQL language embodiments isdiscussed in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,730,478 entitled, “Methodand System for Allowing Access to Developed Applicants via aMulti-Tenant Database On-Demand Database Service”, issued Jun. 1, 2010to Craig Weissman, which is incorporated in its entirety herein for allpurposes. Invocations to applications may be detected by one or moresystem processes, which manage retrieving application metadata 716 forthe subscriber making the invocation and executing the metadata as anapplication in a virtual machine.

Each application server 700 may be communicably coupled to databasesystems, e.g., having access to system data 625 and tenant data 623, viaa different network connection. For example, one application server 700₁ might be coupled via the network 614 (e.g., the Internet), anotherapplication server 700 _(N-1) might be coupled via a direct networklink, and another application server 700 _(N) might be coupled by yet adifferent network connection. Transfer Control Protocol and InternetProtocol (TCP/IP) are typical protocols for communicating betweenapplication servers 700 and the database system. However, it will beapparent to one skilled in the art that other transport protocols may beused to optimize the system depending on the network interconnect used.

In certain embodiments, each application server 700 is configured tohandle requests for any user associated with any organization that is atenant. Because it is desirable to be able to add and remove applicationservers from the server pool at any time for any reason, there ispreferably no server affinity for a user and/or organization to aspecific application server 700. In one embodiment, therefore, aninterface system implementing a load balancing function (e.g., an F5Big-IP load balancer) is communicably coupled between the applicationservers 700 and the user systems 612 to distribute requests to theapplication servers 700. In one embodiment, the load balancer uses aleast connections algorithm to route user requests to the applicationservers 700. Other examples of load balancing algorithms, such as roundrobin and observed response time, also can be used. For example, incertain embodiments, three consecutive requests from the same user couldhit three different application servers 700, and three requests fromdifferent users could hit the same application server 700. In thismanner, system 616 is multi-tenant, wherein system 616 handles storageof, and access to, different objects, data and applications acrossdisparate users and organizations.

As an example of storage, one tenant might be a company that employs asales force where each salesperson uses system 616 to manage their salesprocess. Thus, a user might maintain contact data, leads data, customerfollow-up data, performance data, goals and progress data, etc., allapplicable to that user's personal sales process (e.g., in tenant datastorage 622). In an example of a MTS arrangement, since all of the dataand the applications to access, view, modify, report, transmit,calculate, etc., can be maintained and accessed by a user system havingnothing more than network access, the user can manage his or her salesefforts and cycles from any of many different user systems. For example,if a salesperson is visiting a customer and the customer has Internetaccess in their lobby, the salesperson can obtain critical updates as tothat customer while waiting for the customer to arrive in the lobby.

While each user's data might be separate from other users' dataregardless of the employers of each user, some data might beorganization-wide data shared or accessible by a plurality of users orall of the users for a given organization that is a tenant. Thus, theremight be some data structures managed by system 616 that are allocatedat the tenant level while other data structures might be managed at theuser level. Because an MTS might support multiple tenants includingpossible competitors, the MTS should have security protocols that keepdata, applications, and application use separate. Also, because manytenants may opt for access to an MTS rather than maintain their ownsystem, redundancy, up-time, and backup are additional functions thatmay be implemented in the MTS. In addition to user-specific data andtenant specific data, system 616 might also maintain system level datausable by multiple tenants or other data. Such system level data mightinclude industry reports, news, postings, and the like that are sharableamong tenants.

In certain embodiments, user systems 612 (which may be client systems)communicate with application servers 700 to request and updatesystem-level and tenant-level data from system 616 that may requiresending one or more queries to tenant data storage 622 and/or systemdata storage 624. System 616 (e.g., an application server 700 in system616) automatically generates one or more SQL statements (e.g., one ormore SQL queries) that are designed to access the desired information.System data storage 624 may generate query plans to access the requesteddata from the database.

Each database can generally be viewed as a collection of objects, suchas a set of logical tables, containing data fitted into predefinedcategories. A “table” is one representation of a data object, and may beused herein to simplify the conceptual description of objects and customobjects. It should be understood that “table” and “object” may be usedinterchangeably herein. Each table generally contains one or more datacategories logically arranged as columns or fields in a viewable schema.Each row or record of a table contains an instance of data for eachcategory defined by the fields. For example, a CRM database may includea table that describes a customer with fields for basic contactinformation such as name, address, phone number, fax number, etc.Another table might describe a purchase order, including fields forinformation such as customer, product, sale price, date, etc. In somemulti-tenant database systems, standard entity tables might be providedfor use by all tenants. For CRM database applications, such standardentities might include tables for Account, Contact, Lead, andOpportunity data, each containing pre-defined fields. It should beunderstood that the word “entity” may also be used interchangeablyherein with “object” and “table”.

In some multi-tenant database systems, tenants may be allowed to createand store custom objects, or they may be allowed to customize standardentities or objects, for example by creating custom fields for standardobjects, including custom index fields. U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/817,161, filed Apr. 2, 2004, entitled “Custom Entities and Fields ina Multi-Tenant Database System”, and which is hereby incorporated hereinby reference, teaches systems and methods for creating custom objects aswell as customizing standard objects in a multi-tenant database system.In certain embodiments, for example, all custom entity data rows arestored in a single multi-tenant physical table, which may containmultiple logical tables per organization. It is transparent to customersthat their multiple “tables” are in fact stored in one large table orthat their data may be stored in the same table as the data of othercustomers.

Any of the above embodiments may be used alone or together with oneanother in any combination. Embodiments encompassed within thisspecification may also include embodiments that are only partiallymentioned or alluded to or are not mentioned or alluded to at all inthis brief summary or in the abstract. Although various embodiments mayhave been motivated by various deficiencies with the prior art, whichmay be discussed or alluded to in one or more places in thespecification, the embodiments do not necessarily address any of thesedeficiencies. In other words, different embodiments may addressdifferent deficiencies that may be discussed in the specification. Someembodiments may only partially address some deficiencies or just onedeficiency that may be discussed in the specification, and someembodiments may not address any of these deficiencies.

While one or more implementations have been described by way of exampleand in terms of the specific embodiments, it is to be understood thatone or more implementations are not limited to the disclosedembodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover variousmodifications and similar arrangements as would be apparent to thoseskilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims shouldbe accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all suchmodifications and similar arrangements. It is to be understood that theabove description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive.

What is claimed is:
 1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium havingstored thereon instructions which, when executed by a computing device,cause the computing device to facilitate operations comprising: testingan additive package representing a software package having an inner coreand an outer shell, the inner core representing core properties, and theouter shell representing customizations, wherein the outer shell iswrapped around the inner core such that the outer shell encompasses theinner core, and wherein the core properties and the customizationsremain continuously bonded as the inner core and outer shell,respectively, throughout one or more processes associated with the oneor more tenants, wherein the one or more processes include one or moreof modifying, installing, re-building, or distributing of the additivepackage, without breaking a bond between the core properties and thecustomization, wherein testing identifies one or more changes to theadditive package; forming a change package having the one or morechanges; bonding the change package to the additive package to form abundle such that the additive package and the change package remainbonded throughout one or more processes; and deploying the bundle havingthe additive package and the change package.
 2. The computer-readablemedium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise updating theadditive package, wherein updating includes removing the change packagefrom the bundle when the one or more changes are no longer pertinent tothe additive package.
 3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1,wherein the operations further comprise detecting the core properties ofthe software package and the customizations of the software package asrequested by one or more tenants in a multi-tenant database environment.4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the customizationsare based on one or more customization proposals received from one ormore client computing devices accessible to one or more users associatedwith the one or more tenants, wherein the one or more customizationproposals suggest one or more modifications to the software package suchthat the additive package is customized for the one or more tenants,wherein the one or more customization proposals are recorded in theadditive package.
 5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, whereinthe additive package comprises one or more of data, metadata, one ormore sets of programs or codes, one or more applications, and one ormore components, wherein the customizations of the additive package actas dependencies.
 6. A method comprising: testing an additive packagerepresenting a software package having an inner core and an outer shell,the inner core representing core properties, and the outer shellrepresenting customizations, wherein the outer shell is wrapped aroundthe inner core such that the outer shell encompasses the inner core, andwherein the core properties and the customizations remain continuouslybonded as the inner core and outer shell, respectively, throughout oneor more processes associated with the one or more tenants, wherein theone or more processes include one or more of modifying, installing,re-building, or distributing of the additive package, without breaking abond between the core properties and the customization, wherein testingidentifies one or more changes to the additive package; forming a changepackage having the one or more changes; bonding the change package tothe additive package to form a bundle such that the additive package andthe change package remain bonded throughout one or more processes; anddeploying the bundle having the additive package and the change package.7. The method of claim 6, further comprising updating the additivepackage, wherein updating includes removing the change package from thebundle when the one or more changes are no longer pertinent to theadditive package.
 8. The method of claim 6, further comprising detectingthe core properties of the software package and the customizations ofthe software package as requested by one or more tenants in amulti-tenant database environment.
 9. The method of claim 6, wherein thecustomizations are based on one or more customization proposals receivedfrom one or more client computing devices accessible to one or moreusers associated with the one or more tenants, wherein the one or morecustomization proposals suggest one or more modifications to thesoftware package such that the additive package is customized for theone or more tenants, wherein the one or more customization proposals arerecorded in the additive package.
 10. The method of claim 6, wherein theadditive package comprises one or more of data, metadata, one or moresets of programs or codes, one or more applications, and one or morecomponents, wherein the customizations of the additive package act asdependencies.
 11. A database system comprising: a package processingdevice having a processor coupled to memory having instructions which,when executed by the processor, cause the processor to facilitateoperations comprising: testing an additive package representing asoftware package having an inner core and an outer shell, the inner corerepresenting core properties, and the outer shell representingcustomizations, wherein the outer shell is wrapped around the inner coresuch that the outer shell encompasses the inner core, and wherein thecore properties and the customizations remain continuously bonded as theinner core and outer shell, respectively, throughout one or moreprocesses associated with the one or more tenants, wherein the one ormore processes include one or more of modifying, installing,re-building, or distributing of the additive package, without breaking abond between the core properties and the customization, wherein testingidentifies one or more changes to the additive package; forming a changepackage having the one or more changes; bonding the change package tothe additive package to form a bundle such that the additive package andthe change package remain bonded throughout one or more processes; anddeploying the bundle having the additive package and the change package.12. The database system of claim 11, wherein the operations furthercomprise updating the additive package, wherein updating includesremoving the change package from the bundle when the one or more changesare no longer pertinent to the additive package.
 13. The database systemof claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise detecting the coreproperties of the software package and the customizations of thesoftware package as requested by one or more tenants in a multi-tenantdatabase environment.
 14. The database system of claim 11, wherein thecustomizations are based on one or more customization proposals receivedfrom one or more client computing devices accessible to one or moreusers associated with the one or more tenants, wherein the one or morecustomization proposals suggest one or more modifications to thesoftware package such that the additive package is customized for theone or more tenants, wherein the one or more customization proposals arerecorded in the additive package.
 15. The database system of claim 11,wherein the additive package comprises one or more of data, metadata,one or more sets of programs or codes, one or more applications, and oneor more components, wherein the customizations of the additive packageact as dependencies.